VIDEO: T in the Park cancelled next year

Scott McAngus

Organisers of Scotland’s most famous annual music festival have announced it will not go ahead next year blaming restrictions at the new venue it moved to last year.

DF Concerts and founding partners Tennents Lager said the festival will be “taking a break” in 2017 for the first time since it first took place 23 years ago.

The companies say the move to Strathallan Castle in Perthshire last year, which came with planning conditions, have made the site “not workable” and they are taking a “break” to try and resolve issues.

The festival also hit controversy last year over a £150,000 Scottish Government grant of public money was made to DF Concerts to help stage the event following the change of venue.

Scotland’s Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop faced a Holyrood hearing over the grant but was later cleared of any wrongdoing by public spending watchdog Audit Scotland.

The statement said: “To the best audience in the world for over 23 years, T in the Park has been at the heart of Scotland’s music scene – with you, by our side. But for now, sadly, we need to take a break.

‘For now, sadly, we need to take a break’

“We launched T in the Park with one aim: to give Scottish music fans an unforgettable weekend with their friends enjoying the best acts from around the globe. And to say we achieved this together is an understatement.

“T in the Park has become one of the best known, biggest and most loved festivals in the world. When we launched back in 1994 there were only two music festivals in the UK – now there are many and T in the Park paved the way for all that have come and gone in Scotland since.

“We created more than just a festival, we created a family and decades of wonderful memories.

“However, the last couple of years have had their challenges. Against our will, and despite a prolonged fight, we were forced to move from Balado, Kinross in 2015. This move was a mammoth task for the event and one that was compounded by a series of onerous site restrictions placed upon us as preparations for the event in 2015 took place.

“As the build-up to the festival was well underway we were informed by Scottish Government Ministers that we would have to apply for full planning permission due to the presence of an unregistered, but protected in law, osprey’s nest.

“The constraints – logistically and financially – that the resulting planning conditions put upon us are simply not workable. We tried our best to work with the pressures placed upon the site by bringing in an additional team and fixing the first year traffic issues, but ultimately we’re not in control of the overall site layout and the continued restrictions means that the negative impact on our fans and the limitations placed on their experience is too great.

“We now need to take stock and take a year out to try to resolve the issues so that we can once again deliver the kind of camping festival you are used to and deserve.